I would use a handle-less file, gramps, and lay it flat on the table and stroke gently the ridge. It will go away. I’ve done this.

And be a little kinder to yourself. Tools are made to do work, and they will end up showing signs being used. “Character marks.” A table saw sitting in a store has potential to do work, but no proof and no character. You are giving this inanimate object a realized purpose and the personality to go along with it.

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

Wanna feel bad… I had the chain of my 1-ton hoist (normally pulled to the side and up on a hook) get loose and fall across my TS and put maybe three dozen little dings on the cast iron top, all close together. I had owned my new TS less than 2-months at the time.

The beer fixed the panic, and by golly you wouldn’t believe it! The TS still worked and cuts a straight line! (sarcasm)

Personally, I think you would stand a greater chance of messing up the top by trying a DIY repair than ignoring it and getting on with making dust. (serious)

My dad once bought a new truck and he immediately put a scratch on it, on purpose. When I asked why, he said, ” Now I don’t have to worry about scratching it.” I thought that was absurd at the time. Now, I think it’s pretty smart.

I would attempt to use a ball-peen hammer to work down the raised metal, then sand smooth with some WD-40 and small piece of fine grit sand paper, if necessary. Seriously, that last step is probably unnecessary and will make the “repair” more obvious.

But that’s just the first of many dings and scratches to come! Kinda sad.

BTW, I’d recommend anything from Stone Brewery to help you through these traumatic times.

A few years ago, my Veritas large shoulder plane landed nose first on concrete! Careful filing, a little wet sanding with a block and WD-40, and it’s perfectly usable. Cellulose and Lee describe methods nicely.

Yah, I dropped my LN rabbet-block plane on the cement floor the other day. Ugh. I flattened it back out, but I wasn’t happy with myself. The thing about those planes is that they are more vulnerable to breakage by design, so I got a little lucky.

Mike said, “NEVER: Spray directly on any iron surface to be cleaned. I did and now have a small area where I have permanent “splash” marks from the spray.” —————————-

Yeah, this is why I said that its probably better to skip the sanding step if not completely necessary. You end up making a bigger scratchy spot rather than a small ding. It just makes matters worse. And you have to be careful what chemical you use, if any, because of discoloring the top.

I’d really like to leave the ding alone, but the raised part of the ding has me worried. I had a similar issue on my old table saw, and every time I ran a nice sheet of oak, cherry, or birch plywood across my saw’s table top, it would leave a nasty line cut into the surface of the sheet goods.

So I’m going to put together all of your replies and try the one that I think will work best in my situation.

As always, you’re a great group of people with wonderful tips. Thanks again for all your help!!

If I HAD to repair, flattening with either a ball peen hammer, as Jay recommended, OR take a larger (larger than the ping) flat punch and hammer to flatten the high areas. All you want is to soften the high “sharp area” that you talk about.

Filling the hole with JB Weld would still leave the hump that rubs your nice woods. Gently tapping on the high place with something larger than the hump would tend to flatten it and that is what you are looking for. You could dress it off but then you will be left with a hole in the table that will collect dust, woodchips etc. The metal flowed upward when the impact occurred. You need to push as much of it back into the hole as possible. That is where it belongs. A punch with a large end as Mike suggests or the ball peen hammer. Be gentle. This is cast iron. If you decide to sand it with the finer grits then you need to be careful to not have a low place that is 2 or 3 inches across. As a friend told me about 50 years ago: There are lots of ways to make bad body and fender work worse and I think you have used most of those here. Good luck!!

Best bet is to lay a straight edge across it from several directions (just like finding the highs and lows on a board) and carefully grinding off the high “spot”, which is really a ring like the rim of a meteor crater. Hammers and punches may only distribute the hills and valleys to somewhere else. Your dent is maybe a few thousandths of an inch thick. Ignore it after leveling.